Authors: Juliana Stone
bending over and scooping up the paint can and brushes
I’d used.
“Okay, what?”
“Okay, I’ll give you a lift.”
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“A lift?” I took a few steps until I was close enough to smell
that fresh scent that clung to her skin.
“Well, someone’s gotta be your taxi, and since I don’t have
anything better to do, it may as well be me.”
“So you’re offering to drive me to Baker’s Landing out
of boredom.”
A smile lifted the corners of her mouth, and I thought that
her lips must feel incredibly soft. I thought that maybe it would be cool to find out just how soft they really were.
“Yes, Nathan.
Only
because I’m bored.”
“Nate.”
“What?”
“Call me Nate.”
“Okay,
Nate
. But just so you know, I’m only giving you a
ride. Nothing more.”
“We’re living in a freaking oven and you’re not coming in?”
“I don’t think I packed a bathing suit.”
She started walking toward the house and I fell in beside her,
liking the way she jumped when I leaned close and whispered,
“Who says anything about wearing a bathing suit?”
She stopped so fast that I nearly ran her over. “I am
not
skinny- dipping with you.”
Her cheeks were pink and hair stuck to the side of her neck.
It was crazy that she could make me forget how shitty I felt
about everything. Trevor. The accident. But I’d take it.
I’d play with it.
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“Could be fun,” I said with a laugh.
“For you maybe.”
“What?” I said, watching her back as she walked away. “I
know a lot of girls who’d love to get naked with me.”
“I’m not one of them,” she retorted.
I followed her, the grin still on my face.
She didn’t say anything else until we hopped up the steps
onto her Gram’s porch. Here the shade was a bit cooler, but it
was still nearing 100 degrees. I bet we could have tossed a few
eggs onto the bottom step and the sun would have fried them
in less than a minute.
“I’ll be five minutes or so if you want to come inside?”
“Nah,” I said. “I’m dirty. I’ll just wait for you out here.”
And then she was gone.
I stared down at my filthy work boots for a few seconds and
then yanked them off, pulling out sandals from my bag. My
T- shirt was pretty much drenched with sweat, and my hair was a
crazy mess that stuck to my neck. Shit, maybe my dad was right
and it was time for me to cut it the hell off.
I tore my shirt off and found an old baseball jersey that was
wrinkled as all shit but at least it didn’t smell.
I’d just slicked back my hair when the door slammed open and
Monroe appeared with a beat- up green cooler and some towels.
“Gram made us lunch.”
I was on my feet and took the cooler as Mrs. Blackwell
followed her granddaughter onto the porch.
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“Good afternoon, Nathan.”
“Hey, Mrs. Blackwell. I hope you don’t mind I’m heading
out early, but it’s hotter than a— ” I thought better of cursing in front of Mrs. Blackwell and stopped myself just in time.
“That’s fine, Nathan. Monroe says you’ve finished painting
the fence around the family plot?”
“It’s all done.”
“Wonderful. And when are you starting on the main house?”
“Tomorrow, I think. My uncle needed to order some mate-
rials before we could start rebuilding posts that are rotted on
the porch.”
“Good.” She paused and I shifted as she changed gears.
“Where exactly are you taking my granddaughter?”
Her eyes were on me, focused and intense.
“I was thinking we could head out to Baker’s Landing.”
Baker’s Landing was on my grandparents’ land. It had the
coldest, freshest, spring- fed water for swimming in the area, and on a day like today was the best place to cool off. I used to go
out there a lot with Trevor and the guys, but so far this summer, I hadn’t been once.
“There won’t be any drinking.”
“No, ma’am.”
Mrs. Blackwell nodded. “All right, Monroe. But I expect you
back for supper.” With one last smile, she left us alone on the porch.
“You ready?” I said to Monroe as I headed down the steps. I
got to the bottom before I realized that she hadn’t followed.
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“Anything wrong?” I asked carefully, wondering how I’d
screwed this up already.
She played with soft pink straps that were tied behind her
head and I realized she’d changed into a bathing suit when she’d
been inside. “Will there be anybody else there?”
“I doubt it.”
“I don’t believe you.”
I was quiet for a second, and then I got it.
“Rachel won’t be there, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Well, if she is, I’m leaving. I don’t want to get in the middle
of your crap.”
“There is no middle, Monroe. There’s no me and Rachel, not
anymore. There’s nothing.”
She didn’t answer but slipped into the driver’s seat and fired
up the old Crown Vic. For the first time in a long time, I real-
ized I was looking forward to something and it was all because
of the girl inside the car.
The girl with the gray/green eyes.
The girl with secrets and pain and something inside her that
felt familiar. It was something that was close to what was buried inside my chest. Inside my head and heart.
And I thought that, for the first time since the accident, I
didn’t feel so alone.
And that was nice for a change.
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There wasn’t a soul at Baker’s Landing.
Not one person or dog or even a bird flying around. There
was nothing except a hot breeze, beautiful oak trees, an inviting grassy knoll near the water, and the most picturesque pond I’d
ever seen. Seriously. It looked like something out of a Nicolas
Sparks movie, and I half expected a bunch of white swans to
float by at any minute.
Or maybe Ryan Gosling rowing his boat like he’d done in
The
Notebook
, looking so hot and yummy and sweaty…
Kind
of
like
Nate.
I watched him as he walked toward the water, Gram’s cooler
in his hand, while the sun haloed him, giving him a surreal kind
of look.
He moved like an athlete, long easy strides, and I could
totally picture him on the football field, running plays and
doing it really well. I thought that, if I lived around here,
maybe I would go to his games. You know, if I liked football.
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Which I didn’t, so I don’t even know why that thought popped
into my head.
He paused on the edge of bank, set the cooler on the ground,
and peeled off his shirt.
My stomach did this weird dipping thing, but then why
wouldn’t it? The guy could be a model for the Abercrombie
cargos he wore, and the fact that they hung so low I could see
his boxers again didn’t help.
It was almost worse than being naked, because it made a girl
think of the unknown, and I shouldn’t be thinking of the unknown.
I
shouldn’t.
Mostly because he was way out of my league— that’s if I
was interested, which I wasn’t. I hadn’t dated any guy in a long
time— not since Malcolm died— and I knew that getting close
to Nathan Everets wasn’t a good idea.
So why was I thinking about it? Was it because, on some
level, I knew he was unattainable? Was it because I knew Nate
would never be interested in someone like me? A girl who was
more damaged than he was? A girl with so much baggage she
needed an extra set of luggage just to get her from day to day?
But if that was true, why had he brought me here? Was he just
being nice? Or was he interested in someone who was different?
Someone new?
Why did I care?
God
, I groaned,
I’m such an idiot.
I joined him and stared out at the water, shaking my head
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when I spied a group of swans along the far side. Unbelievable.
Totally Nicolas Sparks.
“You like it?”
He grinned down at me and I nodded, wishing he’d put his
shirt back on or something. I dropped to the ground and dug
through the cooler, handing him a ham sandwich when he did
the same. We popped open a couple of cans of Coke and ate in
silence, there beneath the biggest oak tree I’d ever seen.
For a few moments, the awkward silence between us made
swallowing my food difficult. I couldn’t think of anything to say, and the tension across my shoulders was starting to burn. I’m
sure he thought I was an idiot.
I
was
an idiot. I should have just stayed home. Who was I kidding? I hadn’t been alone with a boy in a very long time,
especially a boy who made me feel things I wasn’t used to feeling.
I shook my head. My therapist would be all over this shit.
“How long are you here for, Monroe?”
Thank God. A question I could answer.
I wiped a crumb from my lap. “Till Labor Day weekend. My
parents are coming from New York.”
“Right. New York. I’ve never been, but it’s on the list.”
“The list?”
“Yep. The list of places I want to go. LA is at the top and New
York is running a close second.”
Huh.
“Trust me, it’s overrated,” I answered. I wished I didn’t have
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to go back. It if wasn’t for Kate and my parents, I’m not sure
that I would.
“So do you go to a fancy school there in the Big Apple?”
I knew his eyes were focused on me, so I kept mine on the
water, watching the swans slowly float in circles across the way.
“Yes,” I said finally. Glen Hill Academy.
I
hate
it
there.
“Why do you hate it there?”
Startled, I turned to Nate— which was the wrong thing to
do, because he was staring at me with an expression that felt as
if he could see right inside me. I swallowed hard and croaked,
“Excuse me?”
His eyes never left mine. They held me trapped as surely as if
he had some freaky kind of tracking device like on those old
Star
Trek
movies I used to watch with my dad. The ones that pulled in objects and never let go.
“You said you hated it there. I just wondered why.”
Shit. Had I said that out loud? What was wrong with me?
“It reminds me too much of someone,” I blurted, my heart
picking up steam and banging inside my chest wall like a
demented drummer. What the hell kind of power did this
guy have?
Some weird expression crossed his face, and then he spoke
softly. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well don’t be.” I shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”
Except it was. It was a very big deal. And it was a big deal
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that wasn’t going to go away, no matter how much I pretended
it would.
It was the big deal that had broken me.
“Let’s go in,” Nate said abruptly, jumping to his feet and
holding out his hand for me.
I glanced at the water again and then back up to him.
“You’re not afraid of the swans, are you?” he challenged.
“No,” I answered, ignoring his hand as I got up. A shiver
rolled over me, which was odd considering it was so darn hot.
“Is the water clean?”
He’d chucked his sandals and had his hands on the waist-
band of his shorts. My mouth went dry, and some stupid lump
decided to clog my throat as I watched him begin to tug them
down over his hips.
“What are you doing?” I squealed. I thought of his teasing
earlier, and my alarm ramped up to about one million. There
was no way I was gonna skinny- dip with Nathan Everets. No
effing way.
His grin was as annoying as ever. “I don’t have a bathing suit
with me, so I’m gonna go in with my boxers.” He paused, his
hands tucked
inside
his boxers. “Unless you want me to— ”
“No, boxers are fine.” I tried not to stare when he stepped
out of his shorts, but it was hard. The guy was ripped. He was
ripped and hot and sexy and he was standing a foot away in a
pair of black athletic boxers that didn’t hide anything. And holy hell but Nathan Everets had a lot to hide.
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I swallowed hard and turned away, easing out a long breath,
when I heard a splash and knew he was in the water.
“Damn, but this feels great. Get your ass in here, Blackwell!”
I turned and spied him halfway across the pond, floating on
his back for a few seconds before he whooped and disappeared